Beschreibung:

Louis Comfort Tiffany American, 1848-1933 Sarah at the Florida Shore Signed with initials LCT (lr); inscribed as titled and numbered EL.91.2.5 on an old tag Oil on canvas 15 x 23 1/4 inches Provenance: Sarah Eileen Hanley, Oyster Bay, NY Phillips, New York, The Sarah Hanley Collection of Tiffany and Related Items, Feb. 1, 1985, , cover illus. Elizabeth Ives Bartholet, New York Ms. Carole Soling, Naples, FL Paul E. Doros believes that the present work, which depicts Tiffany's friend and companion, Sarah Hanley, was likely painted around 1928 in Miami, where Tiffany maintained an estate, Comfort Lodge. He has based the date upon Hanley's appearance as well as the looser, more painterly technique, which is consistent with Tiffany's later work. Born in County Sligo, Ireland, Sarah Eileen Hanley (1883-1959) trained as a nurse, immigrating with her siblings to New York City around 1900. Around 1910 she was assigned to care for Louis Comfort Tiffany who was recuperating from a kidney infection at his home in Oyster Bay, Laurelton Hall. Her patient took an immediate liking to her, and she continued as his companion, caregiver, and friend for the rest of his life. Tiffany, who painted a series of portraits of Hanley, built a home for her across from Laurelton Hall, and named her the first director of the Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation, established in 1918 as a fellowship program at Laurelton Hall for aspiring artists and craftsmen. Sarah Hanley began exhibiting her own work, largely flower studies and landscapes, in the late 1920s; initially derivative, her paintings grew bolder and increasingly geometric in the ensuing years. She bequeathed her estate to the Dominican Sisters of St. Mary's of the Springs, which in 1985 sold her extensive collection of paintings, vases and objets d'art at auction; Sarah at the Florida Shore was reproduced on the cover of the sale catalogue. We are grateful to Paul E. Doros for his kind assistance in documenting the present work. C
Not examined out of frame. Lined, stretchers not original. A small repaired tear near right edge, under 1 x 1 inch, with associated inpaint in a slightly wider area, and a few light strokes below. No other inpaint under UV exam.